


Science Wrangler

by Blue_Hood



Series: Not What They Seem [4]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Souled Vampire(s), Supernatural Elements, Vampires
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-26
Updated: 2019-06-26
Packaged: 2020-05-20 06:51:47
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,436
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19371571
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Blue_Hood/pseuds/Blue_Hood
Summary: Clint finds Tony's scent calming, there are consequences to that.Also, Darcy Lewis and Jane Foster find out the truth.





	Science Wrangler

Tony got used to Clint coming down to the workshop, just to sit and watch him. Sometimes he'd look at his phone suddenly before leaving, usually returning with chicken nuggets and occasionally a blood bag. When Tony was deep enough in project that he didn't notice the vampires comings and goings, Clint was nice enough to simply tap him on the shoulder when he brought food. The routine became so normal that Tony hadn't noticed himself adjusting until one day, his vampire friend didn't come down with food. "JARVIS, how long have I been down here?"

"Nearly six hours, sir."

"That's it? That's not long, for me anyway." Tony was self-aware enough to know that was a lot. "Why am I already hungry?"

"I believe your hunger may have something to do with Clinton's routine delivery of chicken nuggets."

Tony squinted for a moment "Since when do you call him by his first name?"

"Since he told Miss Potts that Clinton is a remnant from his previous names, thus making the address more proper."

"Did Pepper ask you to call him Clinton because I only know one person who calls him that regularly, aside from you apparently?"

"No, Sir. Our vampiric friend asked I use his first name prior to sharing his secret with Ms. Potts and the Avengers."

"Right." Tony paused again "Our vampiric friend?"

"Miss Potts authorized me to ask Clinton to put you to sleep if your binges entered dangerous territory. As taking care of you is my primary directive, I consider his assistance that of a friend. If you are hungry, Sir, I believe there are ample leftovers in the common room refrigerator."

"Right." Tony went to the elevator "Save my work and all that." On the ride up, he asked "How long constitutes dangerous territory?"

"Clinton considers three to four days dangerous territory, while I consider four to five dangerous for you, Sir."

"Right, he told me that. Y'know, I think he prefers Clint, which is what he goes by in this lifetime."

"Very good, Sir."

In the common room, Steve looked surprised by Tony's arrival "What brings you from your lab?"

"Hunger, Clint's got me used to regular meals."

"Primarily chicken nuggets," added JARVIS.

"What's wrong with that? Honestly, I think he does that because it's easy." After a moment, Tony looked suspiciously at the camera "Did he tell you otherwise?"

"No, Sir, however I have observed Clinton making much more complex dishes."

"Since when does JARVIS use people's first names?" asked Darcy Lewis as she dragged Dr. Jane Foster out of an elevator the astrophysicist clearly had to be dragged into with Bruce following calmly behind.

Tony explained "Clint is a vampire and apparently kept the name Clinton from a previous lifetime."

"He's immortal and he couldn't do better than Clinton Barton."

"If he'd done better, you'd be more likely to realize his name's a fake. I'm not sure how he forges childhood records but he must do something to make the alias more than just a name." Glancing up at the ceiling, Tony said "JARVIS, lockdown. No SHIELD or SI personnel except for Pepper and those present in or out."

"Sir, I'm afraid I cannot do that as Clinton has asked I make an exception to such a lockdown."

"What exception?"

"Phil Coulson."

"Well, but he's dead."

"No, he's not." Clint stepped out of the darkened hallway "His grave is empty, I even dug it up one night. There's no body." He sighed "If I see Phil again then the bond might," he hesitated, searching for the right word, "Confused? Since he's alive, I'm bonded to two humans."

"You're sure he's alive?" asked Tony.

"Pretty sure but I can't investigate, the bond would want to return and I'm not sure how having two bonds would work."

"You're scared," said Tony as a statement. "Man, you must be the most human vampire to get scared over stuff like that."

Darcy waved her hand, "Uh, yeah, Thor mentioned something about that but it was in Thor speak so we brushed it off as him being dramatic. Can I see your fangs?"

Clint raised an eyebrow "You want to see my fangs?"

"Yeah."

"Why?"

"Y'know, just to see them, see what real vampire fangs look like."

"Look me in the eye," Darcy did, expecting to be asked to make a promise or something not see his eyes turn purple as he opened his mouth with a throaty hiss.

"That's so cool." Clint closed his mouth, turning back to normal. "No, leave it out, it's cool."

"Vampires are really romanticized these days."

"Well yeah but that's not what I find cool about it." Raised eyebrow. "It just looks cool, doesn't matter that it's because you're a vampire. Hello, Thor's an alien. It just looks cool."

Jane spoke up "Can I ask some questions?"

Shoulders slumping, Clint said "Sure, I let everyone else I told ask away. I'll tell you know lies but fair warning, some of what I know might not be true. I'm kinda an outcast among vampires so me believing some practical jokes is not out of the question."

"Your fangs, they retract, how?"

"I don't know. If you're questions are scientific, let me save you some time and just say vampires never ask why. Tony's been reverse engineering some of my vampire tech, which apparently is super advanced and unpatented."

Tony nodded "Yeah. He can tell you the effects more than the cause."

Darcy asked "What are your powers?"

"I have supernatural speed, strength and senses. I can also travel from one shadow to another, which is something I call shadow-jumping."

"How old are you?" asked Jane.

"Well over a hundred, I don't know my exact age and please don't ask me to recall something that happened sixty years ago. I may have an immortal body but my mind is very much mortal."

"So your mind matches your body but your body doesn't match your lifetime," summarized Darcy.

"Essentially."

Jane asked "What does the bond you mentioned do?"

Tony smiled "As the human he's bonded to, I can tell when he needs to feed because I get a craving for the high that comes with the bite. I've ignored it before, not realizing what it was, and so the bond forced me to seek him out. He can sense my mortality, the bond will break when I die like it did when Agent died. He can only get the full nutrients from my blood. Other people's is like candy, it has the taste but doesn't do much for his health. When Agent died, Clint had to fast for three months to avoid forming another bond with the first human he bit."

Clint said "I bond with one human and only feed from that one but most vampires don't value human lives. Humans are a food source to them and occasionally a source of entertainment, nothing more to them. I only bond with a willing human. Before Phil, I hadn't bonded in a while and he had to pretty much force me to drink from him. Unlike Tony, I didn't bond with the first bite. Eventually Phil caught on to my tricks and cornered me in my apartment demanding an explanation, that was one of the few times he was ever in my apartment. Every time, he was, he got bit."

Tony said "The bites, even without the bond, are a high like no other."

"Only if you're bit in the neck, otherwise the bond is needed for that feeling," corrected Clint.

"You bonded with him on the first bite," pointed out Darcy.

"Yeah but he wasn't my first encounter, just the first to stay through the night."

"Not five hours later, we were in different buildings."

"You know what I mean." Their audience shared similar smirks at the banter. "Anyway, he can sense my mortality which also means that if I'm in mortal danger then he'll know and be able to come."

"I can't track him so it'd just be me and maybe one or two other people if I grab them before I shadow jump. The last effect I can think of is his scent calms me, it's the only thing that calms me. No matter the circumstances, scenting him will calm me down. That effect works both ways in that I can lull him to sleep."

"That's not the last effect," Tony corrected "I also can't think straight after a bite."

"That's just you coming down from the high, which comes from the part of the bond that we call a craving."

Darcy interrupted before they could bicker some more "Let me get this straight, the bond makes Tony crave to be bitten."

Tony said "It's a high like no other, the bond just makes it addictive."

Jane latched onto another point "You can put each other to sleep."

"Yeah. Now that I've been thinking about it, trying to figure out the whys, I think that ability is the bond connecting us. He can calm me, I can put him to sleep. There's an element of stress to sensing his mortality and to being a food source, that effect working both ways solves the problem."

Tony muttered, "Yeah but I can't think straight after a bite."

Clint smirked "You were right, Tony, we did miss one."

Tony looked at him perplexed for a moment, "Oh, right. My natural lifespan is lengthened a bit but as Agent proved, that doesn't make me any less killable."

"I think it does, a little bit at least. I doubt a human could be resurrected like Phil was but I also doubt Fury knew about the bond, or if he did then that he fully understood it."

"Yeah." Clint shot over, pressing his nose to Tony's neck. The genius explained "This is what scenting means."

Clint took a step back, "You need to eat."

Darcy gave him a look, somewhere between confused and inquiring "What does his scent have to do with that?"

Clint ignored her as he went to the kitchen to heat up popcorn, Tony asked "Why are you making popcorn?"

"I'm going to cook you all a meal but you and Jane need to eat something now."

Steve said "I'll help cook."

Clint listed off ingredients and supplies, which Steve put on the counter without a word. After the popcorn was done, Clint handed the bag to Darcy along with a box of protein bars "Feed the scientists please."

"Sure thing."

Once the food was in the oven, Clint and Steve joined them in the living room "It'll be about an hour before the food's done. If Tony's been living off chicken nuggets, I don't want to know what Jane's been existing off of."

"Where do you sleep?" asked Dr. Foster.

"I don't sleep in a coffin or a freezer, I'm clearly not strictly nocturnal as I'm a daywalker. I may not remember everything but I sure remember my wife Laura before she went insane, you can ask any of the other Avengers present for details on that. I sleep on a couch because I can't stand a bed with the bad memories of the women I've loved and lost."

"I never asked," began Tony.

"I'm over a hundred years old, if humans can experiment with sexuality then you know I have. I already told you about my one night stand with Phil."

"Yeah."

Steve was surprised "You and Agent Coulson were-."

"Never a thing unless you're talking about the bond. One time, we went beyond that but he broke it off before anything could come of it." Clint chuckled "He had a whole list of excuses which I had fun making him use by hinting at what-could've-been." Turning serious "In Phil's mind there was no what could've been. The difference in lifespans was too much. You know he had a girlfriend so no matter how romanticized humans make vampires, being bonded to one and having one for a boyfriend are not the same thing."

"Yeah, alright. I was wondering, your daughter Lila has a habit of marrying the humans she bonds to."

"I told you that's not normal."

"I was wondering if you always bond to the same gender."

"Yes, I do but again, nothing to do with sexuality. Actually, that's part of the reason I bond with men. Women are more likely to have ideas in their heads from the romance novels. Anthony, my youngest, doesn't do bonds but he feeds from both genders. Cooper, my oldest, he bonds with both genders but he's very picky about who he bonds with."

"How so?" asked Bruce.

"He understands, as we all do, that a bond is a lifetime commitment for the human involved. He's very careful to choose someone who will never throw that in his face in a moment of anger, he likes to think he's making sure he doesn't choose someone who will regret it." Clint looked away when a though hit him, "Tony, I just remembered something."

Tony said "Look at me." Clint looked at him, his nervous expression fitting his physical age more than his actual age. "What is it?"

"You can break the bond. While vampires know this, I mean I forgot, we don't usually tell humans."

"I thought only my death could break the bond."

"That's what normal vampires want their bonded human to think and I forgot that's not strictly true. For one thing, it works both ways. If a vampire hunter ever killed me then you'd suffer a broken bond but there's a way for you to choose to break it. Thing is, that doesn't work both ways and I'd have to see if my kids remember how it does work."

Darcy asked "How many kids do you have?"

"Three pureblood vampires. Cooper is my oldest, Lila's my middle and Anthony's my youngest. Laura named Anthony and," He sighed. "When Cooper and Lila were born, I bit them. That first bite connects us, it makes me their sire and father more than Anthony's because I didn't know Laura was pregnant until Anthony was already born and bit."

"What does the bite do?" asked Tony.

"If I was more like Laura then I could make my children do unspeakable things. Being how I am, the worst I'll ever make them to do is run from a fight."

"They can't disobey you," guessed Jane.

"Exactly. There's this vampire hunter, he's half-human half-vampire which makes him a half-breed and a fellow daywalker. He calls himself Blade, he knows me and my children. He lets us live because even Anthony has enough of my moral code, enough of my humanity, to stay off his list. When Laura died, I was quick to bite Anthony, hoping her death negated her bite. I don't know if it worked, he was pretty much raised by her. All she had to do after giving that first bite was say stay and it's be unforgivably cruel for me to take him. I don't know why Blade killed Laura, if she was his target or just in the way but every year on the anniversary of her death, my kids and I get together to prove we can. When she was loose, she had ways of keeping us from reaching or warning each other."

"Wow, that's heavy." said Darcy.

"I'm over a hundred years old, I can handle heavy but yeah, still leaves its mark." Clint took a deep breath and let it out "I find it easier to remember the monster who forced me to make many sadistic choices, who used our children as pieces in her demented chess game, the monster who turned having a child into a fate worse than death. It's easier to remember Laura as that than to remember the vampire I loved, the woman who insisted Cooper get to see Lila's birth, who insisted our bedroom connect to one of the kids' rooms. It's easier to remember the monster I hated than the woman I loved with an equal passion."

After a moment of silence, Darcy asked "Can vampires and humans really have kids? You said Blade was half-and-half."

"He is though I'm not clear on how, if his mother was simply bit while pregnant or what. As for your question, I'm not a normal vampire but I may have a few descendants out there from times when I wasn't extremely careful."

Jane recapped "You sleep whenever, sunlight doesn't hurt you but it can hurt other vampires, you prefer a couch because of memories. As for powers, you have supernatural speed, strength and sense, you also shadow jump. How much blood do you drink?"

Clint chuckled "Tony and I are trying to get on a schedule but I've never really measured how much I take with a bite."

Tony said "The more recently you've fed, the stronger you are."

"Yeah, there's that."

Darcy asked "What do you mean?"

"I mean that when I haven't fed for a while, my powers are weaker. Oh and I also heal fast but if I'm really hurt," he looked at Tony "I won't feed from the source because I'd be afraid I wouldn't stop."

"If Clint took so much that I died, he'd say he drained me. Not that he would do that but it's some vampire lingo. He also insists that feeding from me and eating are not the same thing."

Clint shrugged "They're not. I think I forgot to mention most vampires can't get nutrients from human food, they'd only eat it to blend in."

"Okay," Jane processed that while Clint went to check on the food. As he returned, Jane asked "How often do you feed?"

Clint shrugged "Tony and I are close to a schedule but we've yet to get on one. Between my missions and his meetings, Phil and I weren't really on one either. I literally base my feeding time off whenever he gets the craving."

Darcy asked "How does Cooper feed when he's not bonded?"

"Blood bags, which aren't as good for him because fresh does work better. Anthony insists fresh also tastes better but I've found that microwaving a bag seems to trick my system."

"So you don't drink cold blood?"

"I prefer warm because vampires, I guess you could say by nature, prefer fresh and like I said, a warm bag can trick my system."

"Makes sense, I guess."

"Cooper fasts between bonds like we're supposed to then he lives off bags until he finds a human he feels comfortable bonding with. Of my three children, he's the most like me but then again, he remembers Lila's birth so he wasn't unaffected by Laura losing her mind."

"He remembers a loving mother?"

"Lila has only vague memories, she knew Laura enough that the change confused her and for a while, she thought she could make her mother all better. Laura loved taking advantage of that."

"What do your kids call you?" Jane was getting annoyed by Darcy's irrelevant questions.

"Anthony calls me Sire while Cooper and Lila call me Father but sometimes they slip into the more informal dad. Anthony is close to Tony's age but he could pass for a teenager. You'd never guess there's even a decade age gap between any of my children, much less the huge age gap there is between Cooper and Anthony."

"So vampires age slowly?" Jane's annoyance faded when Darcy's curiosity bore scientific fruit.

"To a point. Purebloods, which are vampires who are born vampires, they stop aging at some point. I'm extra special because I wasn't born a vampire or turned into one by another vampire, I was literally cursed." Clint shrugged "I don't consider it some terrible cross to bear but I don't know what else to call it to explain how I became what I am. Sometimes I think I'm the most human vampire in the world by design, of course that doesn't explain how Cooper and Lila got my morality, even if they didn't get to be daywalkers too."

After the food was all done, Clint moved their conversation to the dining room before shadow jumping to retrieve a blood bag from his kitchen that he then microwaved on the common floor. Darcy stared at the steaming bag "You were serious?"

"Of course I was. This is," he inspected the label, "not Tony's, thought I replaced them all." he shrugged and opened the bag as he sat down, chugging the blood. While Jane and Darcy were watching with morbid curiosity, the other Avengers just shrugged and began eating. After he finished drinking, conversation turned to more human topics.


End file.
